Abane Ramdane

Ramdane Abane
Born
Ramdane Abane

(1920-06-10)10 June 1920
Azouza, French Algeria
(now Algeria)
Died26 December 1957(1957-12-26) (aged 37)
Tétouan, Morocco
Cause of deathSummary execution
Known for
MovementFLN, ALN
SpouseIzza Bouzekri

Abane Ramdane, in Kabyle : Ɛebban Remḍan,[1] (June 10, 1920 – December 26, 1957) was an Algerian political activist and revolutionary. He played a key role in the organization of the independence struggle during the Algerian war. His influence was so great that he was known as "the architect of the revolution". He was also the architect of the Congress of Soummam in Bejaia in 1956 and was very close to Frantz Fanon.

In the spring of 1957, rifts developed between Ramdane and other major figureheads in the National Liberation Front (FLN). At the time, there was an internal struggle between the military and yje civil factions in the FLN, and Ramdane was accused of creating a "cult of personality".[2]

On December 24, 1957, Ramdane was instructed to travel to Tétouan, Morocco, with Krim Belkacem and Mahmoud Cherif to meet with King Mohammed V.[3] They arrived on December 26. Once in the country, Abdelhafid Boussouf picked them up in a car.[4] While the exact nature of Ramdane's death is unknown, and contesting stories were told by those involved, Ramdane was killed.

Ramdane was "super-political", and his murder was disturbing to many FLN members including amember of Oujda Group, Houari Boumediene, who, according to the 1977 book by Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962, would keep the assassins out of his Algerian government when he was the Algerian president.

Abane Ramdane turns his back on the "external" colonels of the Algerian revolution, including Boumediene and Boussouf, in agreement with Ben Bella they prepare a CNRA (national council of the Algerian revolution) which plans to reverse the achievements of the Soummam congress. Abane accuses them of being "palace revolutionaries" far from the field and the internal maquis and preoccupied by power. In Décembrer 1957, under the pretext of requesting his help to resolve a conflict in Morocco he is lured into a trap where he is assassinated by Boussouf and his services.[5][6][7]

A few years after independence, Ramdane was reburied in his native village of Azouza, in Tizi Ouzou Province.[8]

  1. ^ "newspaper, Tiɣremt 085 6 Acer 4 Yunyu 2020 - (4 june 2020)".
  2. ^ A Savage War of Peace. New York, New York: New York Review of Books. 2006. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-59017-218-6.
  3. ^ A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. New York, New York: New York Review of Books. 2006. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-59017-218-6.
  4. ^ A Savage War of Peace. New York, New York: New York Review of Books. 2006. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-59017-218-6.
  5. ^ "Retour sur l'assassinat politique d'Abane Ramdane". Le Matin d'Algérie (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  6. ^ Abdelkader, Hamid (2022-03-03). Houari Boumediene...: Un homme, une révolution (1954-1962) (in Arabic). Chihab. ISBN 978-9947-39-473-1.
  7. ^ Pervillé, Guy (2021-04-14). La Guerre d'Algérie (in French). Humensis. ISBN 978-2-7154-0663-6.
  8. ^ Assia Djebar (2000). Algerian White: A Narrative. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 1-58322-516-1.